Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

Structured Interviewing I: Questionnaires 285
the survey away. If you send them just the right amount, they are likely to fill
out the survey and return it.
Warriner et al. (1996) confirmed this finding. They offered people in
Ontario, Canada, $2, $5, or $10 to send back a mailed survey. Factoring in all
the costs of follow-up letters, the $5 incentive produced the most returns for
the money.
First-class postage and monetary incentives may seem expensive, but they
are cost effective because they increase the response rate. Whenever you think
about cutting corners in a survey, remember that all your work in designing a
representative sample goes for nothing if your response rate is low. Random
samples cease to be representative unless the people in it respond. Also
remember that small monetary incentives may be insulting to some people.
This is a cultural and socioeconomic class variable that only you can evaluate
in your specific research situation. (See Church [1993] for a meta-analysis of
the effect of inducements on response rates to mailed surveys.)
9. Contact and follow-up: Pay careful attention to contact procedures. Send a letter
to each respondent explaining the survey and informing the respondent that a
questionnaire will be coming along soon. Send a postcard reminder to all potential
respondents a week after sending out the questionnaire. Don’t wait until the
response rate drops before sending out reminders. Some people hold onto a questionnaire
for a while before deciding to fill it out or throw it away. A reminder
after 1 week stimulates response among this segment of respondents.
Send a second cover letter and questionnaire to everyone who has not
responded 2 weeks later. Finally, 4 weeks later, send another cover letter and
questionnaire, along with an additional note explaining that you have not yet
received the respondent’s questionnaire, and stating how important it is that
the respondent participate in the study. Heberlein and Baumgartner (1978,
1981) found that sending a second copy of the questionnaire increases
response rate 1%–9%. As there does not appear to be any way to predict
whether the increase will be 1% or 9%, the best bet is to send the extra questionnaire.
When you send out the second copy of the questionnaire, send the packet
by certified mail. House et al. (1977) showed that certified mail made a big
difference in return rate for the second follow-up.
Does All This Really Make a Difference?
Thurman et al. (1993) were interested in the attitudes and self-reported
behaviors of people who admit to drunken driving. Using Dillman’s TDM,